1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system capable of classifying sheets of a job to be processed, a job processing method, a printing apparatus, a storage medium, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally in the commercial printing industry, a publication is issued through various work steps such as entry of a document, designing of the document, layout editing, comprehensive layout (presentation by printing), proofreading (layout correction and color correction), proof (proof print), block copy preparation, printing, post-process, and shipping.
In particular, the commercial printing industry often uses an offset reproduction printing press in the printing step, and the block copy preparation step is inevitable. However, once the block copy is prepared, it is difficult and disadvantageous in cost to correct the block copy. In block copy preparation, therefore, careful proofreading (i.e., careful layout check and color confirmation) is indispensable. Some period of time is generally required until issuing of a publication is completed.
In the commercial printing industry, most apparatuses used in respective work steps are bulky and expensive. In addition, work in each step requires expert knowledge. Know-how of experts is indispensable.
With the advent of high-speed and high-quality electrophotographic and inkjet printing apparatuses, a so-called print-on-demand (to be referred to as POD hereinafter) market is coming into being against the commercial printing industry.
The POD market appears to replace large-scale printing presses and printing methods so as to deal with jobs of relatively small lots within a short period of time without using any bulky apparatuses or systems.
In the POD market, digital printing using electronic data can be implemented to provide printing services and the like by making the best of digital image printing apparatuses such as a digital copying machine and digital multi-functional peripheral.
In the POD market, digitization advances more than in the conventional commercial printing industry. Management and control using computers has become widespread, and printed material can be actually issued within a short period of time. As another advantage, the POD market does not require any know-how of the operator. Recently, the image quality of printed materials by POD printing is coming close to the level of the commercial printing industry.
In this situation, office-equipment makers and the like are examining new entry into this new POD market (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-165722).
In order to enter the POD market, it is desirable on the assumption of the circumstance of the POD market to cope with any situation which hardly occurs in the office environment. A full study is necessary toward the practical use of POD printing.
For example, it is expected that only the functions of a printing apparatus such as a digital copying machine or digital multi-functional peripheral, which is satisfactorily adapted to the office environment, may not always match the POD environment or the like. In the POD environment, the operator must make detailed settings and work in order to create a final material which meets a customer's request. This environment is aware of shortening of the work time and cost reductions. In the office environment, the user often instructs the printing apparatus to print his document in accordance with his instructions, and then receives his material printed by the printing apparatus. In the POD environment, in most cases, one who requests creation of a printed material is a customer, and one who instructs the printing apparatus or printing system about an operation for creating the printed material is an operator engaged at the work site in the POD environment. In many cases, in the POD environment, unlike the office environment, an operator who instructs the printing apparatus (or the printing system having the printing apparatus) to run for a job to be processed is not one who receives the final material of the job. In order to commercialize a printing apparatus and printing system for a printing environment such as the POD environment which tends to be different from the office environment, it is important to find out use cases and user needs unique to a printing environment such as the POD environment. In addition, a mechanism capable of dealing with use cases and user needs unique to a printing environment such as the POD environment that are not expected in a printing environment such as the office environment must be proposed for commercialization. In this manner, the printing apparatus or printing system can be desirably applied not only to the office environment but also to a printing environment such as the POD environment.
More specifically, in the POD environment, a situation is assumed in which a printing apparatus as described above is installed at the work site, and a dedicated post-processing apparatus such as a cutting machine is also installed independently of the printing apparatus. In this printing environment, assumable work steps necessary for a job to be processed are work of cutting, with the cutting machine, materials printed by the printing apparatus, and work of packing printed materials in a box. Even after a process for a target job by the printing apparatus (or the printing system having the printing apparatus) ends, post-steps necessary after the printing step may exist in the job. At the work site, the operator may take out, from the delivery portion of the printing apparatus, materials which are printed by the printing apparatus and stacked on the delivery portion of the printing apparatus. To perform steps such as cutting and box packing, the operator may rearrange or sort printed materials. In a printing environment such as the POD environment, intervention work by the operator may be required for a job to be processed after the end of a printing process by the printing apparatus. In addition, many operations may be requested of the operator in intervention work by the operator that is necessary for a job to be processed after a printing process.
Examination of why this situation occurs arrives at the conclusion that the conventional printing apparatus (or the printing system having the conventional printing apparatus) is designed in consideration of the office environment. For example, the conventional printing apparatus (or the printing system having the conventional printing apparatus) does not have any specification considering a work step after a printing process, which may occur in the POD environment.
As described above, there is room for further study in commercializing a printing apparatus and printing system adaptable not only to the office environment but also to the POD environment.